4 visions to bridge the gap between Downtown and Midtown

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by demonta4

Mass traffic like that doesn't need to be going through a city. I know it's too late but eventually the connector needs to go. Maintenance on a cap would be an ongoing expense and safety issue if done wrong. I'm hoping once we get a second perimeter we can eliminate the downtown connector that serves more people going through downtown not to it.

Don't hold your breath on the Outer Perimeter.

[bryantm3]

i just want to remind everybody that capping the connector in midtown would either require digging and moving the road down a level, or the cap would be sort of a hill over the connector. between 14th and seventeenth the downtown connector is at or above grade, and between fifth and north it is at-grade in several sections. in these sections the cap would be above street level.

i'm for capping the connector between downtown and midtown. that seems like a common sense, easy fix. but for midtown, it's going to be a lot more difficult. it might be easier to just make all the bridges hide the connector like the 5th street bridge does, and work on planting trees or putting some other sort of visual barrier between the connector and the street level.

my pipe dream is tunnelling the connector from the south end of the beltline to the I-75/I-85 interchange at brookwood. that would bring millions of square feet that could be redeveloped and could reconnect the city like never before. the problem is that due to the many empty lots and lower real estate prices in town, there isn't a lot of demand for a project like this. maybe in 30 years the land where the connector is located will be valuable enough to take on a project like that, but who knows what the situation is going to look like in 30 years.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

my pipe dream is tunnelling the connector from the south end of the beltline to the I-75/I-85 interchange at brookwood. that would bring millions of square feet that could be redeveloped and could reconnect the city like never before. the problem is that due to the many empty lots and lower real estate prices in town, there isn't a lot of demand for a project like this. maybe in 30 years the land where the connector is located will be valuable enough to take on a project like that, but who knows what the situation is going to look like in 30 years.

Put a toll on the connector to pay for capping it. Drivers should be paying for the valuable land they are using.

[primaltech]

Yeah, what they should do, is dig a new 75/85 Connector underground, roughly under the existing one, or parallel to it. And done in a way that wouldn't require lane closures above. Massive mega tunnel project that would last probably 2 decades.

That way, they can just go ahead make it twice as wide as it is currently, and with plenty of express/transit lanes in there. Also, the speed limit could be slower, or adjustable, and all the lanes managed for smoothness and safe merging. To maximize safety and minimize chaos, the lanes in the tunnel could all be separated into groups by physical barriers every 2-4 lanes, with the far ends being collector/distributor, then you have general through lanes middle section, then you have express and transit/HOT lanes in the middle. As if they were all different roadways.

Finally, once the project is complete and all the on-ramps and interchanges are ready, they could close the old Connector above, demolish it (keeping the bridges)... and then you could do something truly wonderful.

What I imagine, is an artificial 'river', like a long shallow pretty showcase lagoon type thing, using water pumped in from the Chattahoochee and the city reservoir systems to the west. Also it could be a backup water reservoir in itself. You could call it the Atlanta River, or the Peachtree River, something like that- and it wouldn't be traditionally navigable but you could have canoes and paddle boats and slow tour boats, and maybe jet skis and fun stuff.

This would accomplish a lot of things, besides the hugely increased car capacity. First of all Atlanta would finally have a significant water feature near its downtown. And it would almost actually look like a natural river, like where the Grady Curve is. It would be for tourism and for residents alike. It would drastically increase commercial and residential property and land values all along the river, and some of those ugly parking decks and junk along the highway would likely be replaced by nice restaurants and offices and such. It would gain Atlanta national and international attention and fame as a major architectural and engineering marvel of the century. And it would just simply be really pretty, from all angles and vantage points. So that in itself would increase tourism, and make the core urban areas of the city that much more desirable places to be and to live. You could do walking and biking trails along side it. You could do new parks alongside it, and/or make connection paths to our existing large parks. The grade issues mentioned above could finally be fixed, so that it's flat and at least a full grade below the city for the whole length. You could then add more cross bridges, and beautify all the existing bridges. Except now you wouldn't be hiding and blocking the ugly view, the bridges would instead be trying to embrace the fabulous view. And people would want to walk across them and linger a bit.

Turn the gash through the middle of the city into something truly great for the city. Blue space. With some green space along side, and above it.

[bryantm3]

That is a really cool idea, although the cost would be astronomical. However, it would cost a lot less than some of the huge military and defense sci-if projects that we waste our taxes on. This is why we can't have nice things.

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

That is a really cool idea, although the cost would be astronomical. However, it would cost a lot less than some of the huge military and defense sci-if projects that we waste our taxes on. This is why we can't have nice things.

Indeed.

In the end, I just hope they at least beautify around the highway.

[Hokiehaven]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

i just want to remind everybody that capping the connector in midtown would either require digging and moving the road down a level, or the cap would be sort of a hill over the connector. between 14th and seventeenth the downtown connector is at or above grade, and between fifth and north it is at-grade in several sections. in these sections the cap would be above street level.

i'm for capping the connector between downtown and midtown. that seems like a common sense, easy fix. but for midtown, it's going to be a lot more difficult. it might be easier to just make all the bridges hide the connector like the 5th street bridge does, and work on planting trees or putting some other sort of visual barrier between the connector and the street level.

my pipe dream is tunnelling the connector from the south end of the beltline to the I-75/I-85 interchange at brookwood. that would bring millions of square feet that could be redeveloped and could reconnect the city like never before. the problem is that due to the many empty lots and lower real estate prices in town, there isn't a lot of demand for a project like this. maybe in 30 years the land where the connector is located will be valuable enough to take on a project like that, but who knows what the situation is going to look like in 30 years.

Tunneling would be an amazing project, and it's really too bad a toll can't be done to do such a project, because it would be to the benefit of everyone and the city long term to fix the connector and utilize the valuable real estate it's sucking away.

Even if at level, 5th to north seems feasible, still expensive sure and they'd have to slope it to the frathouses and probably redo that whole side of GT, but I'd think GT and NCR among others would be heavily on board with such a project. Over time, I think the cost truly make it way too valuable, and you have to connect Westside, GT, Midtown and Downtown, so the Downtown part needs to be capped inevitably. This is the core of your city and where your money is and will be growing in the foreseeable future with the push to move back into the city both from people and businesses.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

i just want to remind everybody that capping the connector in midtown would either require digging and moving the road down a level, or the cap would be sort of a hill over the connector. between 14th and seventeenth the downtown connector is at or above grade, and between fifth and north it is at-grade in several sections. in these sections the cap would be above street level.

...

Parts of the cap as a small hill/ridge is ok.

I imagine the cap over the connector as one long linear series of parks. Tree parks--each tree park with a theme. Each cross street through the the linear series would be the dividing line between each park.